Today is truly going to be one of our last spring days (plus there's a killer breeze!), so I decided to take Ellie to the Maricopa County Fair. It was a bit of a trek there, and when we arrived, I was a little disappointed we'd traveled so far for it. It was much smaller than I expected and because we arrived right when it opened, it was pretty...well...desolate. And if you've never been to a "fair" that isn't busy, it's a little weird.
We made our way through the indoor vendor area, and I was already wondering if it was even worth it to be here to risk messing up her afternoon nap. When we came out of the vendor area, we found the petting zoo. This, my friends, is where we turned it around. Ellie loves animals and amazingly has zero fear. We parked our stroller in sight, bought our $1 cup of goat pellets, and in we went. The lady at the front warned me that she'd need to try to hold the pellet flat in her hand (which is next to impossible for a 16 month old), but we gave it a go anyway. Ellie was all business immediately picking up pellets one by one and generously handing them out to every goat that hungrily came her way. It was so hilarious and amazing to watch. Maybe the goats got it? Maybe they're gentler than the lady thought? Who knows, but we had no incidents, no tears, no fear, just some good old fashioned goat and sheep feeding.
That alone would have made the trip worth it, but when we came out there was a lady running a little train that drove through the fair grounds who asked if we wanted to ride. Why not? So in we hopped for a ride in a darling little train. The bonus was we got to see every part of the fair grounds and I realized there was a lot more to do than I thought. So once we hopped off, we set out to play some more. We looked through the 4H animals, rode the carousel (the first time she's ridden one without mommy sitting on the horse with her; she was ALL business), watched for airplanes in the sky, watched some crazy dudes doing tricks and flips on the halfpipe on their bikes, and said hi to everyone we passed.
We ended our trip with some BBQ (holy messy and holy hilarious - the beans were her favorite part) and a fried Twinkie (because doesn't every trip to a fair call for something deep fried?!) while enjoying the musical stylings of some terribly awful high school marching band.
There were so many awesome things about today, aside from the fair fun.It must have been the day where the fair opens up to school and community groups because I've never seen so many disabled kids in one place in my life. Wheelchairs, special strollers, lots of hand holding, lots of helpers, lots of special needs. It felt like everywhere I looked there was a group of kids that needed special care...who were having the BEST time. What special adults to be with them, and what a powerful reminder of just how insanely lucky I am to have such an awesome little girl.
Today also served as a great reminder that most people in this world are good. Every time we rode or experienced something I had to leave the stroller parked, and not once was I worried that something would happen. Everyone was there to have a good time, and again, it was a pretty awesome thing to witness.
Ellie certainly won't remember this day, but I most definitely will. We laughed and watched and walked and talked, and it was one of the best days I've had in a long time. And now as she soundly naps (a HUGE bonus that I was able to keep her awake in the car on the ride home!!!), I am SO ready for a shower :)
(I took so many more pics than I needed to, but it was a day that called to be captured. A link to the photos is here.)
And our trip to the Fair can be summed up in this one short video :)
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